Kickback

Posing as hitmen to fake the assassination of a government official: it is the sort of plan that sounds good in the briefing and gets complicated on the ground. Bodie and Doyle are working it when their new partner turns out to be Jimmy Keller, an old mate from their SAS days, the man who once saved Bodie's life. Old loyalties and a dirty job, all in the same room, and the room is getting smaller by the minute.

The trouble is Keller. He is in deep with the gang of Italian terrorists the pair are shadowing, and Bodie cannot work out whether his old friend is a maverick mercenary making money from both sides or a genuine threat to CI5. Every conversation between them carries the question, and the history makes it personal in a way the show usually keeps at arm's length. The fake assassination is supposed to draw the real conspirators out, but Keller keeps the plan's centre of gravity shifting. The Italian terrorists are the frame; Keller is the picture.

Brian Clemens and Stephen Lister wrote it, Ian Sharp directed. Norman Eshley is Keller, and he does a fine job of keeping you guessing. Meg Davies is Sheila Kaufmann, Peter Whitman is Benedek, James Faulkner is Major Nairn, Hal Galili is Travaioli, Steve Alder is Murphy and Ben Howard is Spelman.

The best thing about it is the suspicion. Bodie wants to trust the man who saved his life, and the episode makes you feel the cost of not being able to. Every friendly gesture from Keller reads two ways, and the script is careful never to settle the question too early.

A tense, personal hour that gives the partnership something to argue about beyond the usual banter, and a good outing for Norman Eshley as the man nobody can quite read.